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HOPPER DECLARED THE TOOL SHED behind the Byers house suitable for them to interrogate Will should they disguise it to a point where he, and the Mind Flayer in turn, wouldn't recognize it. It was coincidental since the shed was where Will had been abducted into the Upside Down a year prior, but there weren't many other places they could use at a quarter past midnight.
The same quartet that had fought the Demogorgon a year ago worked to clear out the interior of the shed and drape it with any and all materials they could find. There was an underlying tension between Nancy and Steve but they did their best to ignore it, both separately concluding that they had more important matters to deal with. On the other hand, there wasn't any tension between Jonathan and Amara, only a burning question on the latter's mind.
"Hey," she gauged Jonathan's attention, holding the tarp against the wall for stability while Jonathan taped it in place. "Where were you yesterday?"
Jonathan completed fastening the tarp to the wall before hopping back down to the ground. "Why do you ask?"
"I don't know," Amara responded truthfully. "We were partnered for a report for history and you weren't there. It's probably not important right now but I was wondering if it had anything to do with all of this."
Jonathan glanced over to the other side of the shed, to where Nancy was helping Steve attach another piece of tarp to the wall. Nancy had been the first to break the strain by commending him for helping the kids alongside Amara. "We, umm, we found a way to spread the word about what happened to Barb by making her death sound more believable," he whispered. "Hopefully the word gets out and those bastards are finally held accountable."
Amara nodded in understanding as she and Jonathan continued obscuring the wall. Of course. Nancy would never skip school and Jonathan would never abandon his brother, unless they felt compelled to avenge someone dear to Nancy who represented what could have happened to Will had they not found him in time. All of them had been forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of a deal Hopper had negotiated with Hawkins Lab, but the lab itself was unlikely to continue operating if people believed the watered-down version of the truth.
"I'm sorry I missed the assignment," Jonathan apologized as they were layering the walls with old newspaper clippings. "I'll make sure to arrange a time to get it done after this is all over."
"No, it's fine. I'm glad to know you weren't just leaving me to complete it on my own," Amara reassured him with a soft smile. "I hope the truth comes out."
Once the inside of the shed was boarded up enough that it wouldn't be recognizable to any of them if they woke up there, Jonathan bound Will's limp form to a chair and everyone other than him, Joyce, Mike, and Hopper filed out of the room. Their objective was to jog Will's memory enough for him to recall who he was and give them insight into how to defeat the force holding him hostage. As for the others, they were back to waiting inside the Byers house until further notice.
